When I was recently invited to check out the new Category Management Survey from Future Purchasing, I was immediately reminded of an October 2012 Procurement Leaders article by Paul Teague titled “Why category management is important.”

While it is a relatively short and concise read, it packs an interestingly powerful punch. Specifically, and despite being first introduced as a concept 30 years earlier category management had, at least at time of Teague’s post, failed to gain the attention it was due.

Once again, check out Teague’s views on this subject at your leisure as well as the three reasons why he believes that category management should be at the top of every procurement professional’s list.

In the meantime taking the Future Purchasing survey is a worthwhile exercise on many levels, including the fact that it will tell us if category management is playing a more dominant role in procurement, and the reasons why.

Once the final results have been released I will be scheduling an interview on the PI Window radio show with someone from Future Purchasing to talk about the findings and what it means.

Let me know your thoughts on Paul’s article Mark. And, readers can access the survey through clicking the “Click here to take the 15min survey now” button on the image at the bottom of the page. I have also added an additional prompt in text just below the image as well.